Tom Aspinall has welcomed a rematch with Ciryl Gane in Paris this September after watching Gane capture the interim heavyweight title with a knockout of Alex Pereira.
Gane stopped Pereira by standing knockout in the second round of the UFC White House co-main event to claim interim gold, in a bout UFC CEO Dana White said could elevate Pereira to historic status. Before the fight, White said Pereira “he would become the greatest of all-time with a win to become the first ever three-division champion in company history.”
Aspinall, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, is currently recovering from eye surgery following his no-contest against Gane in October that was caused by an eye poke. He watched Gane’s finish of Pereira and raised concerns about some of the strikes.
“[The elbows] look a bit illegal,” Aspinall said while reacting live. “They look very illegal. What is going on? Dropped him with a jab and he’s swinging now trying to finish him.” He later added, “He looked good,” but continued, “I have to watch that again. Looked like there was a lot of illegal elbows going on. Illegal punches but generally he looked good.”
After Gane called for a rematch when the UFC returns to Paris in September, Aspinall quickly agreed. “Paris in September? I’ll do that,” he said. “Let me know. I don’t mind. I’ll go to Paris. Let me know. I’ll be there.”
Aspinall and Gane’s first meeting ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke, setting the stage for a high-stakes second clash in France.
